Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Day 41: Aunt Flo comes for a visit!

First off, if you are a guy or a close relative, this post might be too much information. There may be stuff in here you never wanted to know about me. That being said, I shall forge on, sharing my story in hopes that it will help others with similar backgrounds and situations achieve their goals and fight their health problems. You have been warned.

I am going to start with a little history. When I was about 11 years old, almost 12, I had my first period. Then I never had another one. I had no clue that wasn't normal. I started gaining a lot of weight. I had horrific acne, migraines, and mood swings. If you saw my school picture by the 7th grade, you wouldn't know whether to laugh or cry. I look awful. It finally occurred to my mom that she hadn't heard anything about periods or bought me products in quite some time. We went to see Doctor Condrey and she did some lab work. It came out that I had only had one period ever. They gave me a shot of provera and sent me to an OBGYN. The OBGYN put my on birth control pills. I can remember her telling me I had PCOS, but not to worry, I would be able to have children someday easily. I was about 13 years old.

I dropped from a size 13 to a size 8 that summer, and by the end of 8th grade, was a size 4. I looked like a totally different person. You would not believe the physical changes that occurred between 7th and 8th grade. I never thought about being on The Pill again until I turned 18 and started reading newer studies on PCOS. I decided I didn't want a pill to mask my symptoms, I wanted to try to correct my hormonal imbalances. That's when I saw an OBGYN and was started on Metformin ER 2000 mg daily, and aldactone 100 mg daily. At first those worked great. Then I started having a brief period every 2 weeks, then nothing. I had to cycle in packs of birth control pills to bring my hormone levels back down to normal, have a period, and control my acne. I was on Acutane. I had horrible facial hair growth. I plucked my face daily. They increased my aldactone. I tried adding bio-identical progesterone therapy. Nothing worked, and I still had to take birth control pills or provera every so often to have a period.

I got married and knew we would have difficulty having a baby. Since we dated for 5 years, we decided to not prevent having a baby, but not exactly try either. A year went by with nothing but super high testosterone levels, coupled with classically low progesterone levels. I had horrible carbohydrate and sugar cravings. I would crave chocolate chip cookies. I would double the recipe on the bag and we would sit on the couch and eat cookies until our bellies hurt. This became a weekly occurence. We did CrossFit, but I never really lost my flab. Eventually I just felt too tired to even work out. I was able to take 5 and 6 hour naps on any given day. I never felt like I wasn't exhausted. I tried to eat low carb meals to change the vicious cycle I knew I was in. I never even felt like I had eaten a meal if there were no carbohydrates or starches. There was no satiety.

I visited an OBGYN. She gave me clomid and provera. I would take the provera, then start the clomid on day 3-7. Every cycle of clomid ended with no period, despite taking provera. I had to take a month's worth of birth control in between to restart the cycle. 60-90 days would go by with nothing unless I took a full course of BC pills to regulate and restart.

I was tired, fat, miserable, and sad. Stu and I discussed how far into the fertility treatments we would go, as our insurance does not cover infertility. We decided if it came to in-vitro, we would just adopt. I prayed a lot. I still do.

I posted something on facebook about PCOS, and thankfully my friend Amanda saw my post and called me. She too had once had PCOS. Once had? Yes, it was gone now thanks to her lifestyle change and Isagenix. Would I mind speaking to another friend of hers that struggled with infertility and used Isagenix with great success? Of course I would. I would try ANYTHING to have a baby. I was so tired of feeling horrible. Tired of all the rotten parents that seemed to get pregnant with a passing breeze and didn't care about their children one iota, when I wanted one so badly to love and raise in a Godly home. I was desperate.

I started my Isagenix. The metformin started making me sick while I was on the system, so I just stopped taking it. I ran out of aldactone before I had ever started and decided not to refill it. What have I got to lose? I gave Isagenix my all. I have avoided fruit, excess sugar, and anything not paleo, including breads and pasta. I eat white meat and lots of vegetables. I did my scheduled deep cleanses. No more, no less. I gained back more energy. I started working out again. I lost 8 pounds and 16.5 inches from around my body in the first 30 days.

Today is day 41. I woke up to a period this morning. Not just any period, but the first one my body has produced on it's own with out medication since that one a long long time ago when I was 11. My first natural period in over 15 years, and the second I have ever had in my life. This, my friends, is an amazing feat. In just 6 weeks, this nutrition has reprogrammed my body. It has battled my insulin resistance. It has cleared up my skin. It has given me tons of energy, and stopped my cravings. I feel so excited about this, because a regular period is also a strong sign of ovulation. Isagenix has given me hope again! It has changed my body from the inside out. How powerful of a nutrition system must it be to undo 15 years of damage and imbalance in 6 weeks? How incredible!

I am very excited to see what the next few weeks brings. Hopefully, a sweet baby to go with my new attitude, energy, and muscles!

Think of all the amazing things this program could do for you! What if you gave up your excuses and tried it for 30 days? I am a firm believer in the Isagenix products now, and am a true testament to their value and success. If you want to start your success story, message me today! You will have nothing but good things to say! How will you feel and look on September 25th. Will you be more energetic? Thinner? More muscular with beautiful, clear skin? HEALTHIER? Or will you still taking blood pressure pills? Dealing with diabetes? Still be trying to find an easy fix for your fatigue, complaining about your pants being too tight and not liking your body? Join me today. You have nothing but weight, toxins, and fatigue to lose, and EVERYTHING to gain!